You may wonder why I care about a marijuana bill when my focus is the homeless.
It's simple: the war on drugs is an easy way to hurt minorities of all kinds, including the homeless. Issue 3 will stop this.
Please vote YES on Issue 3 and stop letting the law hurt the weakest in our communities.
Here is the letter I just received from Christine Link, Executive Director of the Ohio ACLU.
Dear Sage:
Will this mean fewer black people will be sent to jail for trumped up crimes?
There has been a lot of response about our positions on ballot issues next month, and Id like to address the elephant in the room: Issue 3. The board and staff of the ACLU spent a good deal of time debating Issue 3 and it came down to three important factors. I cant recount all of those discussions for you but will try to give you a fair representation of the salient points that brought us to our decisions.
1. The War on Drugs has been a total failure, militarized our country, and corrupted police, resulting in
a. Increased racial profiling
b. Abuses through stop and frisk tactics, and
c. Rendered many thousands of Americans unable to vote, hold a job, live in public housing or receive college scholarships.
2. It is already very difficult to get an issue on the ballot in Ohio. This chance wont come along again soon. Various groups have tried and failed for 18 years to get to this point. Partner Issue 2, will make it just about impossible for any citizens group to put forth an issue.
3. Finally, one of our board members said, Will this mean fewer black people will be sent to jail for trumped up crimes?
Yes. It. Will.
Dont be fooled. The monopoly issue was devised by legislators to split the pro-legalization vote. With ten grow sites and the ability to add additional sites, this is less a monopoly than your cable or internet, your grocery store, and your pharmaceutical company. Marijuana production and distribution will be a multi-million dollar business. This wont be executed by family farms selling product at roadside stands.
If politicians were at all concerned about the concentration of capital in the hands of a few and the sanctity of the Ohio Constitution, they would have never introduced Issue 2.
ACLU has long supported marijuana legalization, and a win here in Ohio will profoundly change the debate across the country.
I urge you to vote Yes, No, Yes. Yes on 1, No on 2, Yes on 3. Vote to preserve our democracy, vote to keep our children out of jail.
Sincerely,
Christine Link
Executive Director
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis
